Zoom, the videoconferencing tool that rose to prominence due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year - and due to its poor privacy policies that were then uncovered - is coming to smart displays later this year. The California-based company announced today that it will be possible to participate in Zoom meetings from Amazon's Echo Show devices, Facebook's Portal, and Google's Nest Hub Max later this year.
Facebook's smart displays will be the first to get Zoom integration, starting next month. The feature will allow users to join meetings with one click, and the smart camera feature will work as usual, keeping track of users and keeping them in the frame as they move around. In its own separate announcement, Facebook also confirmed that other meeting tools, including Webex, BlueJeans, and GoToMeeting will be added around the same time, and they'll work on all current Portal devices, barring the Portal TV.
Amazon's Echo Show and Google's Nest Hub will have to wait until late fall to get access to Zoom. Both platforms will allow users to ask Alexa or Google Assistant to join a meeting, and if users link their calendars to the respective assistant, they can join without entering a meeting ID or passcode. For Echo Show users, the rollout will start with the Echo Show 8.
If you prefer Google's smart displays, while Zoom only specifically announced support for the Nest Hub Max, a separate announcement from Google says Zoom will work on other Assistant-enabled smart displays.
While Zoom became well-known for not handling user privacy all that well, the company has been making many changes in recent months to turn the story around.
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